December TwentyFirst
by Sasori-Delasou
Summary: Winter was her favorite time of month. It had always been Deidara's worst. Dei/OC
1. December

This is probably one of my favorite days in December. 12/21. :) The reasion why is in my profile, but you'd have to know a song to understand why. Well, that, and it snowed today. I love snow. It's so much fun to dance in; to sing in.  
Everything Naruto-related belongs to Kishimoto. Lithium belongs to me.

* * *

A girl danced around in the snow, scarf flying in circles as she spun and twirled. Her gloved hands would reach out now and then to catch falling flakes; she could never catch enough to make something, of course. The snow kept on melting when it reached her hand. One of the annoying things on being human: body heat. It always melted the snow when you touched it.

A boy sat on the steps of the base in which they lived, head resting in one hand as he watched his partner dance about. Of course, he had never been one for winter. All it gave him were colds and a rough time flying. And then there were the times where he had to ask her to go buy him sweaters, since his ego wouldn't let him be seen doing such a thing.

At least the sweaters were nice. And sometimes she'd bring back a scarf or a hat, even if he had said to only buy what he needed. She didn't need to waste her money on him.

A snowball broke him from his thoughts as it hit his chest. Looking up, the girl sat in the snow, grinning. Beside her were at least a dozen more of them.

"Dei, surely you didn't come outside just to think! You could have done that inside."

Scowling, Deidara replied,

"I don't like snow, un."

Another snowball hit him, and he sent a glare in her direction. The girl just giggled, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Stop being so grumpy. I should have brought Tobi out here – he would have been more fun!"

Two azure eyes narrowed. No fun? He'd have to fix that. When she was looking down to make another snowball he threw his own at her, watching as it hit her and almost pushed her backwards. She looked up, eyes wide. Then she frowned, whining,

"That wasn't fair! I wasn't looking!"

"Lithium, I think that was fair, un. Besides, you hit me when I wasn't looking, too."

She just gave a huff before throwing another snowball at him. She was really starting to believe that Tobi _would_ have been more fun than Deidara. She dodged another snowball from him before throwing two of her own in response; only one managed to hit him. Soon enough a snowball fight had ensued, with the blond getting more points than his smaller opponent. But though he had better aim, she was quicker, managing to evade most of the throws aimed at her.

* * *

Looking up from his hands (where he was making another snowball), he was met by everything but Lithium. He quickly scanned over the space in front of him, going as far as to use his scope to look through the trees on the edge of the forest surrounding him.

"Lithium, un?"

He stood up, walking out to the middle of the clearing. Silence was his only response. Snow continued to fall, oblivious to whoever it was falling on. Looking down, he hoped for footprints. Maybe he could follow them to where she was hiding.

There were none.

Not a single pair of footprints apart from his own, leading to him from the steps. A brush of wind fluttered the blond hair on the side of his face, and he swore he heard her voice in it. A flicker caught his attention, and he turned towards the trees. The black and red he had seen vanished, leaving him to wonder if it had just been his mind.

"Lithium?"

Nothing. Nothing responded apart from the still-falling snow and another breeze. Deidara's gaze fell.

* * *

Memories had always been hard to let go of.

* * *

Well, there it is. :) I wrote this up early this morning, around 10:30 am. An hour after I was unfairly woken up from my nice sleep. I don't think my mother understands how important sleep is to me.  
Reviews are welcomed! I'd like to know how I'm doing.


	2. January

I've had a few people asking if I was planning on writing any more of this story. I guess I was, seeing as this was typed up. xD I wrote this at random times between Saturday and Sunday, and the idea for this came to me as I was typing. Just go with the flow, right? Edit: I edited the story a bit! I don't like the way I had phrased some things, and I misspelled a word. Hopefully it's better now.

Everything Naruto-related belongs to Kishimoto. Lithium belongs to me.

* * *

Deidara's eyes opened as a gasp tore itself from him, and he jolted upright. He couldn't see in the darkness, but it didn't matter to him. Focusing on catching his breath, he ran a hand through his tasseled hair. His heart thudded like a drum against his ribcage.

He instinctively reached out to the other side of his bed, but halted when he was met with air. Panicked, her peered over the edge, checked his bathroom, and even moved to look out into the hall. His efforts were fruitless, and he sat back down on his mattress with a sigh. His once-erratic heart had sunk, feeling like it was somewhere around his toes.

"I… I don't understand…"

He whispered softly, looking to the window that was covered by curtains. A sliver of moonlight had broken through, and he stared at it for a while before moving to lie back down. As he curled back up and pulled the covers as close as he could, the empty space beside him struck like a hole in his chest.

* * *

That morning wasn't any easier for the blond. He woke up early, and it took Tobi a dozen tries to get him out of bed, let alone out of the room. He moved with clipped, tired movements. As he sat down at the kitchen's island counter, the masked man knew something was up.

"Deidara-Sempai, are you alright?"

He asked, cocking his head to the side.

Deidara did nothing to reply. He just stared at the counter, a glass of juice in one hand.

"Sempai?"

"…I'm fine, un."

Tobi didn't seem convinced by his response, but gave a small nod before moving to leave the room. He had wanted to see if Zetsu would take him outside, and his Sempai was being boring.

Deidara, however, watched him leave before standing up himself. He stretched out his arms and his back; going outside seemed like a pretty good idea. Sasori had told him that leaving the base was bad for him if he ever wanted to recover, but he chose to ignore his advice. Besides, he knew how to take care of himself!

Snorting to himself, he headed out of the room towards the main entrance. He would show the redhead that he didn't need any help. In his view, he had already recovered.

* * *

It was still snowing when Deidara moved down the front steps. It had been snowing on and off for the past week, much like it had done in December. His breath came out in small puffs.

"I guess I'll go for a walk, un…"

He said to the air, pulling his cloak tighter around himself. He supposed he should have worn a scarf, or at least some gloves to keep the cold at bay.

The forest around the base grew taller as he moved toward it, hurrying to duck under the protection of pines and firs. There the snow wasn't so deep, and in some spots there grass poked through. Birds chirped happily above him, and he scared some away when he moved too quick or brushed against a branch. The area seemed so foreign to him, even though he had been through the woods on dozens of occasions.

Deidara didn't know how long he had been walking, but when he finally stopped he realized that he had no clue where he was. He turned to the left, frowning. Then he turned to the right.

"Maybe I shouldn't have left the base,"

He grumbled, frowning. He knew that he didn't know the way around the woods; he usually had someone else who know to follow.

His gaze fell, and he plopped to the ground. Snow flew up from his movement, but he didn't care. The thoughts he had tried so hard to push away flooded back like a tidal wave.

* * *

"_Deidara, hurry up!"_

_The blond scowled as he pushed another branch out of his way. He stumbled over a tree root, and would have ended up in the snow if a pair of arms hadn't caught him._

"_You should watch where you're going."_

_Blue eyes rose to meet silver, and he couldn't help but scowl at the small smile that greeted him._

"_I can take care of myself, un."_

_He pushed himself away, standing and brushing himself off. When he looked back those eyes had saddened, and it was a moment before he gave in._

"_Lithium…"_

_She looked up at him again, and started to speak when he pulled her back up. She was silenced before she could say anything, his lips meeting hers for a long moment before he pulled away. She blinked before a happy grin spread across her lips. He fixed the hat on her head as he softly spoke._

"_Okay, back to finding our way out of these woods, un."_

* * *

As much as he would have hated to admit it, Deidara was now crying. Silent tears had spilled from his eyes, trailing down his face to fall into the snow. His hands curled into fists, and his teeth snapped together as he tried to keep his emotions at bay.

As he was busy collecting himself, a voice echoed in the winter wind.

_North._

He looked up, eyes scanning the area around him. He was instantly on alert, figuring that someone had found him. He reached out with his chakra to search for others; he found none within a good distance of where he was.

_Go north. It's that way._

"Lith...?"

Deidara whispered, standing to look around. He got no response.

Heart crashing for the hundredth time that month, he hung his head as he moved in the direction that the wind had spoken.

"I miss you, yeah."

* * *

Well, I think this is finished now. I _might_ write a bit more, but it's unlikely unless I get another idea.  
Reviews are welcomed!


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